#155 of 1001 · January 2, 2021

In your younger days, did you wish you could fly? Perhaps you believed you could, knew it in your bones. The power of imagination and the wonder of flight come together in a riveting vignette of magic realism in @beatrizmartinvidal’s Bird. This wordless picture book juxtaposes two simple sequences, a bird high in the sky and a child donning a flight suit. As the child puts on a cap, goggles, and a pair of wings, the bird begins to take on a human shape and descend. Finally, the two sequences become one: the child stands on a board placed over a fulcrum just in time to be catapulted up into the air by the bird, who lands on the other end of the board entirely in human form, another child in a flight suit. The first child, soaring among the clouds, begins the transformation in reverse, shrinking, growing feathers, becoming a bird. The soft texture and nearly monochromatic color palette of Vidal’s art gives rise to an enigmatic beauty. Questions abound: Who are these children? Are they truly becoming birds, or are we witnessing pretend play rendered literally on the page? Different answers may speak to different readers, a testament to the poetic spirit of Vidal’s visual storytelling. #bird #fly #flying #flight #wing #wings #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks